


Lock and Key

by Lorem_Yipsum



Series: Adore Me [3]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Claustrophobia, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Magic, Magic-Users
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 03:37:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5728213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lorem_Yipsum/pseuds/Lorem_Yipsum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hoshi and Woozi find themselves magically trapped in a room with no exit. Can they get along or will the confined space make them claw at each other's throats?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Act One

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in the same universe as my fic "Adore Me" (Magic School AU, mostly Meanie centric). But it can be enjoyed on it's own. I don't think you'll have trouble understanding it. To give you the gist of it: Jihoon is a gifted potioneer who's holed up in his lab all day long and Hoshi is a wizard with a knack for dance. I just had to expand upon Jihoon's character from that story and there was only one reasonable pairing that came to mind for that exploration.

The ritual room was still being de-contaminated from the latest demon attack and so Hoshi had no other choice but to perform his improvised dances wherever he found space. This frustrated the faculty staff to the point where they allowed him to move into a currently unused chamber at the east end of the north wing.

The room was windowless and a little run down, but the only thing he needed to be happy was space.

After spending an hour shoving what few boxes and crates there were left into one corner, the young wizard started with a few simple blessing rituals.

As perhaps the most physically active wizard the school had seen in recent years, he was never found working without a sweatband on his head and one on each wrist.

Later his fellow wizard Minghao joined him and helped put up several chalk drawn ritual circles. They had just finished when the door opened. A pink mop on top of a small man stepped into the chamber.

“Oh, I didn’t know anyone was in here.”

“Jihoonie!”

“Yes, that is my name,” replied the boy matter of fact-ly. “I’ll just grab some tools and be on my way. You didn’t mess with the boxes, right?”

“No,” said ritual master Hoshi, “they’re still alphabetically sorted. I just put them all together.”

While the short boy rummaged in the containers, Minghao said his goodbyes. “I need to do some homework. And I’m going to see what Jun is doing. Maybe he’ll let me copy his.”

Hoshi got up and looked around. “We’re done here anyway. See you at dinner, The Eight.”

“Bye, Hoshi.”

Jihoon pulled small pruning shears from a packet. “The Eight? Hoshi? Did you change your names?”

As the door closed behind the Chinese wizard, Hoshi turned to the non-magical boy. He looked forward to being alone in the room again. Jihoon was an amazing potion brewer, but unpleasant company when not in the best of moods.

“Yeah, we picked names for each other,” he said, adding in his mind _Because it’s fun. Not like you would understand the concept of fun._

“Whatever, _Hoshi_. I’m going back to my lab.”

“Sure, see you.”

The wizard swung his short wand and called several candles into existence. They lit up at the next flick of his magic tool. He was starting to feel the lines in the magic field align along the calk drawings. Immediately he had the urge to get into the rhythm with which they pulsed. About to start swinging his arms in tune with the surrounding magic flow, he hummed.

_Ah, what a marvelous feeling. Finally getting back into the beat._

Jihoon froze at the door, his thin fingers on the handle. “Wait, do you guys call _me_ names, too?”

_Oh no, he’s not going away. Ugh, do I tell him the truth? Doesn’t he already know what we call him? When was the last time he has left his potion cave for more than five minutes?_

“We… call you Woozi.”

“You call me dazed?” shout-asked Jihoon aka Woozi, his voice transporting the aggressiveness of a cornered kitten.

“No, Woozi with I. The Woozler. Woozikovsky. Lord Woozington. Benito Woozolini. Woozimon, I choose you.”

_Just leave. I don’t want to deal with your attitude right now. If Jeonghan hadn’t taken Seungcheol on vacation... But alas, I’ll have to make do without mom and dad to moderate here._

Hoshi took a step forward, and walked right into a magic flux line. He felt a sensation he couldn’t place. There was something, right behind Woozi. No, behind the door. Outside the room. A knot in the field, constantly bursting open and re-tying itself. How was that possible?

“Listen,” said the small man. “If you make up a name just to use it as an insult- Hey, are you not even going to look at me?”

Hoshi pointed behind the other boy. “There’s something there. In the magic field. Can’t you see? Oh right, you’re not a wizard.”

He remembered that the mundane student could not perceive what he felt himself. Despite his excellent potioneering skills Woozi was no wand user.

Woozi growled, his pink hair swaying a bit.

_He looks positively feline_ , thought Hoshi.

Again the smaller boy turned to the door. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, your magic nonsense is of no concern to me.”

“Don’t be so brash, little kitten,” said Hoshi without thinking. He was too busy infusing the knot with analytical charms. It was a truly curious manifestation.

Woozi rotated around and stepped back into the middle of the room. “What?! Excuse you, b*tch. No more anti-sweat potions for you. How does that sound?”

Hoshi was getting slightly amused. He though _Even his eyes are cat-like. Not quite on level with my 10:10 charm, but they fit the package_. “You could be so cute, if you didn’t insist on-“

“Never call me the c-word.”

Pulling a little on one end of the knotty protuberance in magic space, Hoshi waved the wand slowly in the air, more or less ignoring the angry man that glared up at him. But he couldn’t keep a sly comment to himself.

“C-word? You mean ‘cute’? Because when people say ‘c-word’, they mostly mean c*nt. Not sure which c-word fits you better.”

_Odd. This knot seems stuck. I can’t get it to budge one bit._

Woozi lifted the little scissors dangerously close to the taller boy’s face. “I don’t have to put up with this. You wizard lot think you’re sooo great.” He stormed away, trampling on the ground as if to punish it with every step. “I’ll tell you what, I’m going to explain to the headmaster what you just said to me and we’ll see what he-“

As soon as the boy touched the doorknob again, Hoshi managed to pluck a tiny bit of the knot away.

Reality tore open and collapsed back together.

The door was gone. Solid walls all around. Two boys trapped.


	2. Act Two

“Huh?”

Hoshi flicked a few more candles alight to replace the ceiling lights that had gone out. His mind raced.

_The knot flipped inside out. It’s still there but completely inverted. How is that possible?_

“What did you do?” Woozi asked quietly.

“I don’t know yet. Hold on. Something in this room must have interfered with the thingamajig outside when I poked it.”

“Can… can you fix it?”

Hoshi looked at the other boy and his expression faltered. The small boy looked a lot more timid now. Whenever his gaze dashed to the former location of the door there was a terror in his eyes.

_Does he not like confined spaces? But he’s always holed up in his lab._

“Don’t worry Wooz- I mean, Jihoon.”

“Call me whatever, just-“ He gestured to the wall where the exit was supposed to be.

“Right. Let’s see.”

First Hoshi flung a few analytic spells at the wall itself. It was a regular wall. Duh. All the other brick and cement surfaces around were, too. So far, so useless. In the corner of his eye he saw the pink haired boy fail to get reception on his phone.

“I get no signal. But I never had that problem on the school grounds.”

“Hm, I just tried teleporting us to the designated safe spot, but it seems I can’t get out.” Hoshi poked the air with his wand again. “And my messages to the headmaster don’t go past the walls either. Let me try something.”

He stepped into the conveniently pre-drawn summoning circle and spoke the focus words. Water bottles and sandwiches popped up. They were from his room, where he had put them in preparation for when he inevitably got hungry but didn't want to quit working.

“Ah, so I can still get things in here from the outside as long as I know where they are. That means we’re not in a pocket dimension or somehow else cut off from reality. That’s good news. Something is just locking us in.”

“Can we vanish things from around school until somebody notices and comes looking?”

“Quick thinking. I guess, but I don’t remember where any other items are exactly. Big furniture is going to be in the same place as always, but we don’t have too much space in here.”

Again Hoshi noticed how fidgety the boy was in this situation. It was irksome to observe. Woozi had put the scissors away but he didn’t sit still. He didn’t pace either, just shuffled back and forth as if he was hoping to spot a door he had somehow overlooked.

_Man, he really hates not being in control. And he hates being in here with me, but that feeling is mutual. Time to get out the heavy hitters._

“Take a step back, I’m busting us out by force.”

Hoshi loaded a destructive piercing spell into his hand and waited until the last possible moment, when his fingers were starting to tingle as his nerves misfired from all the magic blocking their signals. He focused the power into his wand and smashed the spell into the blank wall.

The impact caused a bright flare and pushed him back. The familiar flickering of magical blockades dissipated the effort.

_They reinforced the walls. After that last demon attack, I bet. Lovely._

Any further attempt to break the wall was more likely to injure the boys in the room than succeed in even scratching the surface. By now the shorter boy was walking back and forth like a caged panther, nibbling away at Hoshi’s concentration.

“Woozi, why don’t you just sit down? Or take a nap… Snoozi.”

Jihoon glared at him. “I’d rather work on getting out.”

“I’ll try moving the knot in space. Perhaps it’s blocking the door by sheer positioning and thus the metaphysical exit as well, allowing nothing to get outside.”

“An epiphenomenon?" Jihoon's eyes narrowed. "Sounds reasonable. Try aletheing the hypokeimenoic modality first.”

“Erm, right…”

Hoshi shook his head.

_I forgot that he knows almost as much as I do. Even though he’s not magical he studied the theory for so long that his potions go off without a hitch. That’s rare even amongst wizards. And he’s right in this case, too. He figured out what I was going to do before even I knew it._

After fiddling with the knot’s platonic qualia-balance for a full five minutes, he gave up with an exasperated huff. Jihoon was leaning against a wall, staring at the floor. Again, there was this severe discomfort in his expression.

“Woozi?”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll try a different approach, but I’m not too hopeful. Don’t freak out. Someone’s going to miss us eventually and come looking. Maybe headmaster-nim is already alerted and right on the way.”

He tried to sound confident, but it came out a bit forced to say the least. He had never seen the fun-sized boy so timid.

While repositioning himself in the magic field lines he said “Didn’t you take out a demon with a single hit? Just a few days ago, I could have sworn I heard that. Mingyu told me all about it.”

“Yes, but I can’t headbutt a wall out of the way,” said the boy with a stone faced expression of grimness.

“Guess not. Look, I’m going to try to recorporealize the-“

“Just do whatever. It’s not like I’m of any use without my potions.”

_Man, what’s his problem?_

“Suppose so. Alright.”

Hoshi had to admit the boy wasn’t useful with no brews at hand, but he had only wanted to keep him in the loop. He raised his wand but didn’t cast. Something in his head _clicked_.

“Jihoonie? Do you feel about the role of your work like this only right now or… in general? Because, you know, we don’t just keep you around for those things you can make. You’re still valuable on your own. Because you’re you.”

The smaller boy looked up. His façade crumbled. Jaw dropped, eyes drooping.

_Oh no. What did I do? And what do I do now? How do I fix this? What did I do???_

“You… You think I’m valu-“ Jihoon’s voice cracked. With quivering lips, he failed to speak as tears welled up in his eyes. All the defensiveness was gone. He didn’t look angry or dismissive or flippant or any of the other things he worked so hard to appear to be. He looked very, very lonely.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why couldn’t Woozi just make a snoozi? Forgive me for ending on a sad note, but things had to get worse before they get better. It’s lonely being at the top. Especially when it’s all you have and you never felt like you fit in. See you next time for a less heart wrenching conclusion.


	3. Act Three

Hoshi took the initiative.

He magically called forth a blanket from the crates in the corner and caught it out of the air. Stepping up to the pink haired boy slumped up against the wall, he gently wrapped the sobbing potion master in the musty smelling cloth. He crinkled his nose and touched his wand to the fabric to freshen it up.

Jihoon cuddled himself into the now clean blanket, looking very soft and huggable. A bit like a kitten rubbed dry after a bath. Hoshi didn’t take the risk of actually hugging the boy, though.

“Sorry,” Jihoon mumbled as he wiped the tears away from his eyes.

“Oh, don’t apologize for your feelings. We only just found out you had any.”

Grabbing a water bottle Hoshi sat down next to the boy as close as he dared. With a tap of his wand the water gained the flavor and texture of hot chocolate. That was as close as his magic got him to the real deal without using more complex, time consuming charms. He pressed the warmed up substance into Jihoon’s delicate hands.

“Thank you,” came a very quiet response.

_He looks so different now. Almost like an entirely new Woozi. Was that always under that exterior? He’s positively begging to be cuddled and held. I would but I don’t want to risk losing my fingers. How can this boy go around knocking out demons?_

“I…”

“Yeah?” Hoshi leaned back against the concrete. His head slightly fallen to the side to keep an eye on the boy next to him, who kept staring at the floor ahead.

“You’re not going to tell the others. That I cried, I mean. Right?”

“You cried? I thought I had summoned some cut onions by accident.”

Woozi chortled. “That was lame. But thanks. ...I’m better now. I don’t even know what happened there.”

His cold, distant façade was already rebuilding. Hoshi cleared his throat. “Maybe we can do this more often. I don’t mean getting locked in. Just, talk. Letting you know that you don’t have to push out a new piece of work every day just to be a worthwhile guy to have around.”

“I’d like that.”

_Wow, that was easy._

“And I,” Woozi continued, “can tell you all the things that make you the idiot you are.”

_So much for that._

“Jihoonie?”

“Hm?”

“Will I ever get to see that other Jihoon again? The one from a minute ago. The one that doesn’t push people away at all costs. The one who lets me in. Like before.”

The smaller boy slumped even further into the blanket. “I’m sorry. I don’t even want to be like this. I’ve just been like it for so long…”

“How would you like to be?”

For a while it seemed as though Woozi wasn’t going to answer. His features had softened and he looked straight ahead.

“…I’d like to be… with... people. With…”

“With?”

Woozi turned his head to look up at Hoshi. His lips were trembling. While his eyes didn’t look like he was about to cry again, there was an inscrutable sadness present.

_What is he so afraid of? With who does he want to-_

It was a quick kiss. Hoshi didn’t even realize it had happened before it was already over. Jihoon appeared to have cat-like reflexes when it came to surprising people with actions that said more than all the words he could have used.

“Sorry,” he whispered as he buried himself so deeply into his huge blanket he vanished almost up to the pink mop.

Hoshi kept sitting where he was – pondering. Jihoon was cute. Terrifyingly so, no doubt. The boy was so cute, it hurt to look at him. But this? Was there a part of the tiny, always angry satan that demanded closeness? Even intimacy?

_What is my life?_

Minutes past in silence, before Woozi’s head popped up again. “Can you please say something? I… We can pretend this never happened.” He forced an artificial chuckle. “I’m low key panicking over here.”

Something clicked in Hoshi’s head again. Something entirely different this time.

_Low key panicking… Key!_

He squeezed Woozi’s head between his hands. “Genius!”

“Huh?”

His sudden jump startled Jihoon, but Hoshi was already dashing to the middle of the room.

“The embarkation principle,” he explained. “Magic can take an object’s metaphysical properties and convert them into action.”

Slowly, the smaller boy stood up, leaving his protective fabric behind. “But how does that apply? You need a focus object to kickstart the magic and you only have chalk circles in here.”

Hoshi got excited at his own idea and elaborated. “When I tickled the weird thing that made the door vanish, I was acting as the lock. I was the magical instigator. But something else was the key. Do you know what’s in those boxes?”

Woozi turned to the miscellaneous items packed up in the corner. “No? I store my spare tools here to have more room in the lab for all the plants I grow, but… You think there is something magical hidden?”

“The key that locked us up. And the key that can get us out.”

He went on all fours to make sure he wasn’t overlooking anything on the ground, like an object hidden below a loose floor board. In this school you never knew what secrets you could find with a little attention.

He realized that this method of escape would give them both something to do, making Jihoon feel useful again.

_If that’s what he needs, I can give him that._

They dragged box after box from the corner and searched through them. In particular they looked for anything that could seem like a key in the abstract and fickle eyes of wild magic. Hoshi used his wand like a divining rod, attempting to find anything with an unusual spectral signature.

The boys unearthed a few treasures and lots of junk. It seemed like whoever had bunkered their stuff here was averse to ever getting rid of anything at all. After casting the third air freshening charm to dispell the rising dust clouds, Hoshi sank to the floor.

“Ugh, there’s nothing in those. Maybe the room itself has special properties? Or the crates are of some magical wood? I can’t find anything that's weird about them, though.”

Jihoon didn’t look at him as he said “If it’s any consolation, I’m okay now. And I’m sorry. For earlier. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“It’s okay. You know, maybe we shouldn’t try to find the key, but recreate the situation of the locking. Let’s see, I was in the center of the room, plucking away at the knot. Could anything have reflected off the walls and hit the boxes from there?”

Jihoon sighed. “To think that I was a second from leaving. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’m almost glad I got locked in with you. It did some good after all.” He glanced to the side, meeting Hoshi’s eyes. “Still, I was right at the damn door.”

“Ha, after all that probing the area for a key, the only thing we unlocked is your… feelings,” Hoshi said. He would have said ‘heart’, but ‘feelings’ sounded a lot less like something that would make Jihoon cringe.

He chuckled as the boy cringed anyway.

_I really did unlock you, little man. Wait. I… unlocked… you. Right at the door!_

“Woozi!” Hoshi shouted excitedly as he jumped back into action.

“Huh?”

“ _You_ locked us in here!”

“What?!”

Taking the smaller boy’s cheeks in his hands again he put a quick, hard kiss on his lips, leaving a confused Jihoon behind as he jumped in excitement.

“You’re the key, Woozi. You’re the key to my lock. Stand right at the door. Well, where it’s supposed to be.”

“I don’t get it,” mumbled the boy, referring either to the impromptu kiss or the plan Hoshi was formulating. Regardless, he complied, taking his position by the correct space at the wall.

Hoshi felt the knot again, this time deliberately _through_ Jihoon. There it was. Now all the loose ends made sense. Hoshi hadn’t understood why the congestion in the magical flux had been so mysterious to him. Now he understood what the missing element had been.

Finally, there was _a rhythm_. Woozi’s heartbeat.

It took only the slightest of plucking and the field unraveled. Reality tore again, along the seams this time, leaving the fabric intact. It was trivial for Hoshi to restore the natural state of the room.

“Ya!” Jihoon yelled in joy as the door appeared. He rushed out of the room as if he was afraid the gate to freedom might vanish again any moment.

“Hoshi? You coming?”

“Yes. ...Wait, you never called me that in earnest before.”

“It’s your name now, though, isn’t it?”

“I suppose.” The caster left the chamber. There was a new corridor next to the exit that hadn’t been there before. A further door was at the end. “Aren’t we at the far side of the building? The knot must have been blocking the entrance to… where ever this leads.”

Woozi dragged him away by the wrist. “That’s enough for today. The strange new corridor can be investigated by somebody else.”

Hoshi grinned. The pink haired boy was taking command again. But the old grim stone face wasn’t back. He truly hoped this would be a lasting change.

Maybe he could help it along. With a little encouragement. Or a kiss. Or two.

 

THE END

 

 

 

The next entry in the spin-off sequence is a Hansol/Seungkwan story called "Chill, Swag and Fairydust". Hope to see you there. (And the strange new corridor will be investigated in the chinaline story after that.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ll be honest. This wasn’t one of my favorite ships in the beginning. I never even thought I would write about them. But then… Seungcheol was taken in this AU already so, who else was I going to pair Jihoonie with? You liked it, though. Right? Because, strangely, I did and that’s usually a good sign.

**Author's Note:**

> Oops. Looks like they’re in trouble. Will Hoshi and Woozi find a way to get along? And a way to get out? And did I introduce their stage names only because I was tired of writing ‘Soonyong’ which I’m not used to calling him? Find out next time.


End file.
